Hamilton disappointed with qualifying

Lewis Hamilton expressed his disappointment after setting only the ninth fastest time in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix.

Hamilton was upbeat on Friday, but a set-up change ahead of qualifying left him floundering at the bottom of the Q3 shootout.

"Today’s qualifying session was one of the most disappointing of my year. To be honest, I went the wrong way with the set-up and ended up with too much understeer. Until quali, the car had felt great all weekend, but I just couldn’t make it turn this afternoon, and as a result I just couldn’t extract the best from it", he said.

"You never know what’s going to happen in tomorrow’s race. It’s going to be a struggle, but I’ll be pushing my hardest with the set-up I’ve got, and I hope that, through good tyre management, I’ll be able to overtake some of the cars in front of me."